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In the Old Bailey to-day Justice Charles summed up the case against Oscar Wilde and Alfred Taylor. He said that counsel had acted wisely in withdrawing the charge of conspiracy brought against Wilde, as he would have ordered the jury to bring in a verdict of not guilty on that specification. There was corroboration of witnesses, but the jury would have to weigh the characters of men like Parker, Wood and Atkins, whom Sir Edward Clarke, in the justice's opinion, properly described as blackmailers.

LONDON, May 1. - The jury in the case against Oscar Wilde and Alfred Taylor failed to agree after about two hours’ deliberation and were discharged. Bail being refused both Wilde and Taylor were remanded to jail to await a second trial.

Justice Chester, in summing up the case, said that counsel for the prosecution acted wisely in withdrawing the charge of conspiracy against Wilde, as he would have ordered the jury to bring in a verdict of "not guilty" on that specification. He admitted that there was corroboration of the witnesses, but the jury, he added, would have to weigh the characters of men like Parker, Wood and Atkins, whom Sir Edward Clarke, in the Justice’s opinion, properly described as blackmailers.

The Justice also urged the jury not to be influenced by Wilde's writings, saying that many great men had written indecently. The jury must exercise their own judgment as to whether Wilde’s letters to Lord Alfred Douglas breathed an unnatural passion, and, he also said, the relations between Shelly and Wilde would be interesting matter for the jury's judgment.